Leaderboard

O-5 Board update: Reported into USD on 4 Jun. If it follows the last boards timeline (13 working days from USD (P&R) to public release), that would mean: DepSecDef: 4 or 7 Jun Public Release: 23 Jun (Wednesday) So notifications out between 18-22 June (that is a Friday to Tuesday)? Not sure when the list is sent to the Wings...If that timeline follows, should be next week, right? Sorry, no morale slide for this step-brief. *Note...I have no idea if it will follow the same timeline, but it looks like we should definitely know before the 4th of July weekend. Also, feel free to check my work/math in public, probably missed something.

I’d love all the KC-135s to have working lights and crews not be afraid to turn them on over the desert. You are at much higher risk doing lights out ops from your receivers than any ground threat. And if you ever get the chance to brush up on HVA killers...do it. You’ll see that in today’s world. There is very little you can do other than stay waaaaaay away. Push tankers away 100 miles, you just lost 200 miles of fighter range. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

You must work pretty deep in the JCS to predict what the construct of the next war will look like? What are the odds of us seeing a B-2 employ a nuke in our lifetime? Does that mean that B-2 dudes don’t train for the worst case, high end fight nor ensure they have the best equipment to deliver that effect? To other posters talking about the current ops tempo, I got it - but I’m tired of that being an excuse. What we do in CENTCOM and other commandant commands as MAF dudes is not hard, at all. You have got to be an average aircraft commander at best to succeed in most operational missions currently. Don’t tell me there isn’t time back home during the workday to get a little smarter on near peer threats or attempt to be more tactically oriented. Maybe less Christmas party/CGOC planning and more time in the vault might help. Circling back to the MAF JFR/GRF construct passingtime69 aludes to: it was option B to invade Iraq in 2003, it was almost used in Haiti with 130s/17s enroute with 82nd troopers on board until they were recalled. Unlikely? Probably, but not out of the realm of possibility if we decide to kick the doors down of a country.

Love all this near peer talk from the C-17 guys. Spoiler alert: even if ya had the link, the radar warning, and all the other tactical gear the patches and airdroppers think they need to push into a dense threat area, it aint gonna happen. These “high speed” individuals in the community truly do have an identity complex that pushes them to somehow think they’ll be a night one train just behind a strike train and need all that gear to survive - any knowledge of current “near peer” threat would tell ya you won’t be. It hurts to hear it, but the money is absolutely better invested in equipment and upgrades that allow the jet to be more safe in hauling the mail worldwide in a permissive area where you’re not a liability to other assets trying to protect a miles long train flying 130 knots to drop jumpers. That said - I do agree, pretty bullshit all the steps you have to take to plot a ring on the display or trouble needed to find your bullseye. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

This just can't be true! I heard it elsewhere (and here) that Zoom will revolutionize the world...everyone stays home, businesses will never travel again...YUGE SAVINGS!!!! We even had senior leaders on FB saying the airlines won't be hiring "for a long time," (better sign this shitty bonus). Meanwhile, in addition to all the other airlines hiring, DAL just announced hiring 150/month starting this fall and 200/month next year.

built for speed or comfort?

I mean, at one point in history someone asked "what if we put a bunch of miniguns on a cargo plane?"

I think palletized munitions is one of the coolest things out there to help out in A2/AD fights. Just look at JASSM capacity on the bomber/Strike fleet and how you can multiply that many times with mobility assets. Not sure why anyone that actually gives a crap about AirPower would scoff that idea.

Observations Airlift and AR are absolutely critical to a peer fight. We will lose without them. The key to a war win is 1.) a clear executable strategy and 2.) logistics. Understand that as mobility force and live it. If fighter AR doesn’t get prioritized by TACC, that doesn’t mean it’s not important. In fact, TACC’s priorities are often 540° off what they should be. These are people that famously use KC-10s to haul an NCO’s household goods across the Pacific, or use C-17s to strat airlift Gatorade to the Deid. Use knowledge and judgement to determine what’s important, then continuously press your leaders and MAJCOM to move in that direction. No amount of RWR, Link 16, chaff, or flares will help heavies survive against big threats any different than you do now. Those’ll maybe save the 6-9% of the crews that couldn’t mission plan for defensive considerations or didn’t understand what was happening on the radio. Survival starts with understanding and planning. Airlift brings weapons into a FOB so the fighters and bombers can continue to rearm and fight. Then they return and repeat until someone loses. If you find yourselves with a pallet of JASSM in the back of your mobility aircraft, do not launch them. Land and give them to someone who knows how to use them. Then go do that again. Don’t waste time on learning how to shoot something, you’ll always be worse at that. Focus on your core competencies. C-17 combat airdrop is something I’d love to learn a lot more about. I think they’d be dropping paratroopers eventually, but not with RF SAMs or fighters still around. That seems like an ALR too far. Manpads maybe. The last 2 large scale paratrooper airdrops were Just Cause and OIF into an airfield already held by friendlies. None in Desert Storm, which I think is a significant indicator of the risk involved for ingressing heavy airlift during a shooting war.

And then the fighter guys turnaround and complain about not being supported in things like ACE, or that mobility lacks a tactical mindset. Yeah, some dudes they carried away, we're probably not going to be on the day 1 push. But someone has to seize/set up that forward base for fighters to operate out of. Or for the army to stage out of. I'd rather have my community leaning forward to try and get better tactically (even if some of the ideas or reasonable are laughable at best), rather than take the mentality that our job is just to haul trash, collect per diem, and only expect to fly in a permissive environment. If we're flying the miles long train dropping paratroopers, we're not a liability, we're the mission...inserting the army to go do their thing. We're generally not doing it just because we can (except for that one time we did exactly that, which was a boondoggle). We're just asking for tools so we don't have to suck SA from C2 or escorts because we are blundering blindly into threats. Also don't forget that RWR was a capability the C-17 lost during the transition from C-141 (partial fleet had RWR previously).

@FDNYOldGuy Common error on orders. Go to MPF with a copy of the USERRA memo and show them the exact verbiage that must be put on your amended orders. I’ve had to do this 2 times in the last 3 years. If they push back, get your SQ/CC involved.

Doesn't surprise me in the least w/ the Niagara dudes. A unit culture derived from operating in the -130 mindset for decades is hard to purge. Kudos to those guys to still make it happen!

I’m tracking what Joe’s saying, and he’s right for the most part, our frustration mostly lies with entities well above an ARW level. But, dream’s quote above is still very applicable. I am rightly frustrated with tanker crews when they show negative desire to make the mission happen...not flexible at all, outright don’t want to be “tactically” involved in a mission (because excuses), flip out at the smallest of changes airborne (I guess that’s a double hit on inflexibility), etc. In general, the perception is those crews are checking the box for the airlines/can’t or aren’t willing to do something outside of their super low-risk comfort zone driven by a career of CENTCOM ALR low. I’m not talking scheduling at all, but the planning and execution part. Now, I also know some of that is because some OG’s are giant pussies and the FGOs/CGOs can’t do anything about that. If that’s your case in life right now, then at least resolve to not throw in the towel, wait that guy out, and be ready to win harder when the next guy (who hopefully isn’t a pussy) takes command. Now, I have also worked with phenomenal tanker crews, both AD and ARC. Same MWS as the shitty ones, but a whole new world attitude-wise. One real world example...Niagara lost their -130s, but they clearly brought the more tactical mindset to the -135 world. Those guys have their shit together and are willing to “push the envelope” to make the mission not only happen, but be more effective. I appreciate their openness to “non-standard” things and their flexibility. My perception is they care about the bigger picture and doing their damndest to make the team more effective within their means. There are other great units in the region as well, but I think the Niagara example is one that shows perspective/attitude can be the sole thing that makes a tanker unit awesome, or dog shit. But that’s just one fighter guy’s opinion. I do truly feel for all my AMC bros who have to deal with monumental bullshit and candy-ass leadership on a daily basis. I know many of you would be doing things a whole lot differently if the careerist weren’t on your backs 24/7.

Shit, we can’t even get “ADS-B Out OFF” right in my community. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

The only way it would negatively affect you is if you’re a douche. Don’t treat the students like you’re better than them, talk down to them, etc. Give a shit about teaching them - their success is your success. Those students will be in the CAF when you get there - be the name they’re stoked to see on the inbound list, not the guy they cringe at.

Are we talking 757-200 wife body jets or A380 wife body jets? There’s a big difference between the two and need to know where your standards lie.

He's not wrong though. This is a command and control issue and a systemic problem with everybody believing they are the #1 priority. His point stands, you can bitch at the tanker guys but you are bitching at the wrong people. Bitch at the HHQ who prioritize and assign their taskings.

Finally. https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/U-S-judge-overturns-California-s-ban-on-16226551.php

O-5 Board updated again. Approved by SECAF on 25 May and reported into OSD on 27 May. If it follows last years timeline, public release should be end of June (29th maybe?).

Just picked up a SCAR 16. They’ve been discontinued by FN apparently 17 & 20 only remaining in production) but I always wanted one. I’m excited to put it through the paces!

Won’t be an issue in a few years anyway.